My Photography Wishlist

Just lately I’ve been playing a game with some friends, well photography friends. It is a bit of fun and I thought, hey why not, let’s play too.

If someone gave you $15000 what would you spend it on? It has to be on photography gear.

So here is my wishlist.

A new camera, a Nikon D810 or D750. I am not sure which. I think they are both great cameras.

A 28-300mm lens by Nikon. I love this lens and would really love my own.

Maybe a Nikon 24mm Tilt Shift lens. I like architecture and wonder if I should get one, but then I was with someone recently who had one and it was a bit of mucking around to get the photos, so not so sure now.

A slightly smaller tripod, I would like some new carbon fibre legs from Gitzo.

A geared Really Right Stuff tripod head with a L bracket.

Complete set of Formatt Hitech ND Filters for my Nikon 14-24mm lens.

Pay for Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom for about 5 years.

Maybe a Tamron 150-600mm lens.

New laptop.

I can’t think of anything else. Is your list close to mine? What would you get?

112 Responses

Evangelina07

Cool list. I probably would get a Nikon 18-200 mm f 2.8 lens. That’d be sweet. Otherwise I am very happy with my equipment.
I’d burn the rest on trips of a lifetime, like Africa, Myanmar or Patagonia and make my Nikon sing.

Hey Leanne! That’s a tricky question… I’m not really sure, but here are some things I know I want:
– A 1.4 lens of 35mm for canon
– One study kit
– I would pay rent for a small photo studio
– A microphone to make videos
– A stabilizer

I think I could use a 12/14mm. For the clouds. And I could certainly use a lot of time. More than the 3 hours a week or less that I have now. But then, … it doesn’t matter … Hope you really get what’s on your list 🙂

I love my 14-24mm, so glad I have it, now if I could get the filters for it I would be a very happy person. Sorry to hear you don’t get much time to take photos, I hope you make the most of what you do. Thank you Bert, wouldn’t it be nice if we both did.

Oh yes, that would take up most if not all your money. It would be nice to have, though not sure I would get that much use. I think I’m too lazy for a lens like that lol. Thanks for playing along Tiny.

Fun game…Thanks for allowing me to dream a bit (instead of wondering what one thing I can afford next)! My list woud be:
Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS II
Canon 100 2.8L IS macro
Canon 16-35 4/L
Set of ND filters (not sure which ones)
Better tripod head
Large home safe to store gear (I’m always paranoid about fire/theft)
Ring flash (for macro)
Light meter
Then I would use up the rest on whatever studio light equipment I could afford

I had never really thought of the ring flash for the macro, maybe I don’t take my macro seriously and I should rethink it. It looks like a good list Melissa. I love dreaming, so thank you so much for playing along.

Such a fun game, Leanne. It was great reading through the responses, and my photography wishlist is pretty similar to yours. I would like a full frame Canon camera, new sturdy tripod with a ball head that works well with long exposures, a couple of lenses and a set of filters. And a new laptop just for photography for sure. I would also want to get some photography classes from a few different photographers and basically see what they do and learn hands-on.

Currently I own a Fuji X-E1, but these days use my Canon G7X most days. I am a small person and find carrying a DSLR around heavy, so I think I will invest in a wheel-bag to carry my equipment at some point. Also, with a smaller camera I don’t get questioned whenever I enter a building and so I am tempted to get another high-end compact camera with the money 🙂

$15,000 is a lot of money. Some of us can only dream of spending that money on our photography. But if we work hard and save hard, no reason why we can’t 😀

It is, I enjoyed it. I have the full frame, and I have a tripod, but I would like one a little smaller than what I have now. New laptop, definitely.
I just got a bag with wheels, it is great, so much easier.
It is a lot, but just imagine if it were handed over, how amazing. We can dream, ahh. Thanks for playing along Mabel.

My wish list is ever evolving. I would love a wide angle lens and perhaps a better quality zoom than I currently have. A speedlite flash would be nice. A sturdier tripod – carbon fibre legs would be awesome – with maybe a ball head. Good quality filters. But something I would really love, which isn’t necessarily camera related but certainly would help with photography, is a car that would get me to all the amazing places in Australia which I have on my bucket list – maybe a four wheel drive of sorts.
Hmmm, I think I might need a very large pot of gold. 🌈💰

I have a lot of things that are on your wishlist already Julie Ann, though I’m with you on the car, I want an AWD, not 4WD, I know I wouldn’t feel comfortable going to those places you would need a 4WD, so would be happy with the other. I know what you mean. Thanks for playing along.

Your night photos are so wonderful. For my list – I think I’d like the Canon 5D Mk III – the Mk IV is coming out soon so I may upgrade that item; lifetime subscription to LR and Dropbox (for back up), a new desktop system, monitor for editing, but most important – all the time I need to explore this fun hobby

Thank you Nora, I find it fascinating all the comments about the night photography. I might have to explore it more. Sounds like a great wishlist, though you might need more than $15000, expecially for the last part, I would love that one too. Thanks for playing along.

I have already been telling my friends that I have purchased the last camera I will ever need. One of my friends has a Hasselblad and a D810, and he prefers to use his D810. My camera, a Pentax K-1, holds up very well to the Nikon, but I can see I will be buying more hard drives. Does money for travel to take photos count in this game?

I know I haven’t bought my last one, as the technologies keep changing and getting better, I know I will want others. That’s interesting about the Hasselblad, I have wondered about them, they seem so big and bulky. A few people have said they want to travel with it, I say why not as long as it is for photography. Thanks for playing along.

Hi Leanne, First off let me say that I have seen the laneway in your photo by daylight but it looks absolutely amazing by night. Well done. As for the money I would look for a couple of decent photographic jackets to carry my Sony a6000 and Lynne’s Olympus OMD E-m10. We bought these cameras to travel light. After that I would look for a good quality f 1.8 lens for the Sony and maybe a long lens to about 400 mm. Lynne has two lenses covering from 16 to 300mm, And then two new fast laptops with CC PS and LR downloaded for about 5 years. We would then spend some on private tutorials with you and if there is any left we would use it on traveling to take more photos. Thanks for allowing us to play the game. Best wishes Ron and Lynne

A nice list. I might want a digital nikon or Canon. 🙂
Two notes: I pay – only – 9.99US$ a month for Photoshop. Pretty reasonable.
A new laptop? Seriously consider switching to MAC. I have and don’t regret it a minute.
Have a great week-end.
Brian

Photoshop just went up to $12 a month, I believe, I was told by them that it did, unless it was just Australia. It is very reasonable. I am married to a man that absolutely hates Apple and and Macs, thinks they are overpriced and no better. So I wouldn’t be getting one. I also find them so hard to work out. I’ve been working with a woman who has one and we just can’t get it to do basic things. Drives me crazy. I know PC’s and will stick with them. Thanks for playing along Brian.

– DEFINITELY a new camera. I like the idea of a D750 or D810, but I have to admit that I’m also pretty excited about the new D500, so I’d probably also look into that one.

– I also like the 28-300 lens. It’s a great do-it-all walk around lens, but I love my primes, so I’d probably see about getting something like 35mm/1.8, and the 85mm/1.8. I also have a need for a good wide-angle non-fisheye, so maybe the 10-24mm? Something to consider…

– A good slider might be something fun to experiment with

– A good set of filters

– I really need a good flash or two…

– With all that expensive gear, it really would be a shame to lug it around in my old, beat-up camera bag, so a nice new one would be in order

– A faster computer would be a must, to better handle the larger files from the new camera

I’m sure that other things might pop up as I go along, but this list would be a decent start!

I’ve been reading a bit about the D500, but its cropped sensor takes it out of the running for me. I like my full frame. I’m not a prime person, I think I’m too lazy for primes.
You have some great items on your list Dan, thanks for playing along.

That is very true Don, there is that misconception, and I know, for myself, that what I want is from experience and trying to work with my current gear and it’s limitations to get what I want. The only way to improve your photography is to get out there, I think anyway. Thanks Don.

What a fun game. In a practical sense, I only have a couple of items on my wish list:

Canon EOS 6D
EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM

That only goes through about $2400 USD, though. In reality, I would probably spend most of the money on a trip to use the gear too, but since you said it must be spent on photography gear, I’ll keep within the spirit of the game. My wife makes jewelery, so I’d probably give her my current APS-C sensor camera body and buy for her business a

EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX II

And I would replace my current Crop Sensor camera with an:

EOS 7D Mark II

And since that only brings me up to around $4800, I could have some fun. Even though I realized my use for it would actually be limited, I would also pick up the

Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 DI VC USD

These sort of overlap the need for the 24-104 I listed above, but I’d get these anyway:

EF 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L IS USM
EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM

Speedlite 600EX II-RT

With all that just edging around $11,400 USD, I’d budget $2000 for memory cards, tripods, rain gear/elements covers, bags etc. I might finish off the budget with

EF 50mm f/1.2L USM

While it’s fun to play, I definitely think if that were a real situation, I’d probably debate long and hard about some items. I shoot a lot of distance shots, so having the crop sensor body is handy for a little extra cheat on ‘distance’; but I’d debate whether I actually needed to replace the one I have. I got to use the Tamron 150-600mm at a Gear Tryout Day here at our zoo, and I realized I wouldn’t use it so much for a lot of what I shoot. I decided it was something I could get away with renting when I needed one. Since it’s not strictly “photography gear”, I’d probably ask if I could spend some of the money on ‘weatherproof” clothing. I’ve recently been out in the rain and snow shooting trains and got soaked, so I thought weatherproof clothing would be a good investment. Not buying the Tamron lens or the 7D body would free up between 1000-2500 for that sort of kit.

I actually had a hard time spending the whole $15000 trying to get as much kit as I could out of the money. Thanks for the diversion.

That’s some list Matt. Can I just add, that the full frame cameras, well the Nikon ones do, allow you to shoot at the cropped sensor as well. Or the images are so much larger than it isn’t an issue to crop the images in post. So that is something to consider. I think if I had to save up for the 150-600mm from Tamron, then I probably wouldn’t worry about it, but hey if someone was giving me one, I wouldn’t say no to it. I had a hard time spending it all too, I would have change left over, but it was fun trying, thanks for playing along Matt.

That’s a lovely wishlist, Leanne. I absolutely love my current gear; it’s taken me a long time to build up, and although it’s not ‘top of the range’, it’s perfect for my needs and skill level. So my wishlist would include: a bigger hard drive for all the photos I’ve been taking, two additional large hard drives for backups (and redundancy *just in case*), a sturdier tripod with a flip-to-portrait head, and that sweet 150-600mm Tamron lens for the next time I’m trying to photograph the wild desert horses of the Namib or the wildlife in one of our nature parks from a distance. 🙂

Great wishlist Leanne! I think as a Nikon lover myself I might venture for their new D5 – why not go for it. And I would have to figure out what lens – a bit of research and perhaps a week someplace exotic to capture some very cool shots with my new toys.

Thank you Debby, yeah, thought it, the D5, but it is such a big camera, not sure I would want to lug it around everywhere. The holiday bit, did think of that, but maybe that would be for another wishlist, thanks for playing along.

I’m a gear head so I already own the D810 and the D750. If I were limited to only one it would be the D750. The D810 is a remarkable camera but the images are so large that storage space becomes a real issue. The D750 is a great all around camera.

If you could only buy one lens it would be the 28-300 mm from Nikon. I keep it on my camera all the time because it is so versatile.

Thank you Dave, that is always nice to hear. My current gear, maybe I should do a post on that, though I do have a lot of bits and pieces. I do like playing around.

The D5, I think, is way more than I need, and it is a big camera, so not sure I want to go bigger than I have now. I love my D800, and with my husband being a techie person, well programmer, I have a great back up system, so the file sizes, not really a problem for me, right now. I do love the 28-300mm lens, I’ve had one on loan from Nikon and I really don’t want to give it back, it has become my go to lens.
Thanks, and thank you for playing along Dave.

I am dreaming for a really nice mirrorless camera and lenses, a Gitzo tripod and RRS stuff. I’m a hiker so I need to go light! An Apple laptop when travelling, so I don’t have to wait so long to see my pics! It’s not a big list! Love your pics!

I’m not really a hiker, so weight isn’t really an issue for me, most of the time. I would like the Gitzo tripod legs and RRS head for it though. That would be wonderful. A laptop definitely on my list too. Thanks for playing along Mickey.

The Tamron 15-30mm lens, the Think Tank Streetwalker Pro camera backpack, ND filters, a light meter, a more compact tripod, and several years worth of Adobe CC…would a new cell phone that works with photo apps and showing my website count?

A light meter is an interesting one, didn’t think people still used those except for studio stuff. I love my ND filters, but would love some for the wide angle, I keep wishing I had them. Why not, the phone, I mean, thanks for playing along.

My list would be similar to yours, though Canon, since that’s what I have now. And I’d take any decent lens at this point considering the two I have now are kit lenses. I’d like 3 lenses: a good telephoto, a macro, and a nice mid range or even portrait lens. Definitely a new computer with Lightroom and Photoshop as well.

Hi, Leanne, Fun idea. My first thought was the same as Adrian’s but $15K won’t make it. However, in the closer to real world, there would be the Nikon 600mm f/4 telephoto which runs about $10K at B&H (backorder) plus another $500 for the usual accessories. Then I would apply some of the remainder to a top-end tripod to support the beast. The last bit would be used for a weight lifting set to build up my strength for lugging that thing around;

It is fun, gives food for thought, if only. Maybe I should have asked how much money would you need for your wishlist, haha. I like your choices and especially the last bit, I also considered hiring someone to come out with me and be my assistant. Thanks for playing along Robin.

We have a good back up system, so no worries there, the D5, I’ve thought about it, but it is such a big camera, not sure I want to go bigger than what I have now, interesting choices. Thanks for playing along Murray.

I don’t really need a new computer. My current one is well specified even though it’s six years old but I’ll have to upgrade it eventually because the motherboard is not compatible with Windows 10. I have a Drobo backup with 16TB of duplicated backup.

I might get a D5 at some stage because I could use it for live music and for wildlife photography in low light in places such as Antarctica.

But I’ve been implementing a different wish list with my lighter system for travelling. In the last couple of weeks I bought a Fujifilm X-Pro2 and a 100-400mm as well as a fairly light 15.6” laptop with 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD and 4K screen. I’ll probably sell my 55-200mm for a 90mm f2. That all adds up to about 7.5K, a long way short of the 15K. I might also even get a Samyang 8mm f2.8 if it fits into my bag.

Interesting approach Murray, I get what you mean. I wouldn’t buy a D5, but hey if someone were to give me one, I wouldn’t say no. I haven’t really looked into mirrorless, but it seems to be the way many are going these days. I might have to see if I can try it out one day.

The Fujis are good for street photography, for being more discrete in third world countries and for having a lighter system for some airlines.

I’m on a trip to Guatemala, Cuba and the Caribbean in August/ September and I don’t think I could negotiate Caribbean airlines with my full Nikon system, so I’m taking the Fujis. Just before that I’m going on a landscape workshop for a week in the Flinders Ranges and I’ll take the Nikons for that.

Yeah, I don’t really do street photography, so being discreet isn’t a problem, well for me. I also don’t really travel a lot, so that is good. sounds like you have all sorted Murray, have a good trip. Cuba is becoming very popular, I have a friend going there in December.

I have the D750 the reason I bought that one is it shoots better in low light, is slightly less expensive and much lighter (monocoque body). I would like to get a few really nice prime lenses and the 28-300. I have the Tamron 150-600 nd love it. Also pay for Adobe, Corel and onOne for a few years plus the Windows Assure plan.

When I purchased my D800 the D750 wasn’t around, but the D600 was, I went for the heavy camera because I can be rough with my gear and I needed one that could handle that. The problem for me with the D750 is that I would have to get a second remote shutter release and that kind of thing, but if I had that money perhaps it wouldn’t matter. sounds like you have thought about it a bit Sherry, like your choices, thanks for playing along.

Great to hear what gear you like, and others too. I have always just worked with whatever cameras the Army (Nikons) or photo studio (Cannons) has given me. I am finally at a step where I would like my own professional gear (outside of my little Cannon Rebel that I play with). As I have used both brands, I am torn between which I like more. And not really being a tech person, I need to study up on the options out there now. So I love hearing about what photographers I admire would like and use. Thanks!

Sounds like you have been lucky to have access to both. I think once to buy into a brand it is very hard to change. I initially purchased a Nikon because I knew someone who had bought a Canon and she had so much trouble working it out. I picked up the Nikon and it was easy to use, so decision made for me. Of course that was 20 years ago, I stick with Nikon because I have all the gear now. I think it is a good thing to do, go somewhere and look at both, see which ones you can just work out. Research is also good. Thanks for playing along Nato.

I will say for wedding photography, the Cannon seems easier to get more quality photos in places where lighting is poor. However, one Nikon person once told me…that is because I wasn’t doing things right. I am not the best at all the tech stuff, so that may very well be true. I have just been fortunate enough to at least have a good eye. Now, my quest is to develop the tech side of my knowledge more. So research and practice and study are my currents goals:)

I have to say I haven’t found the Nikon a problem in low light. I know the Nikon handles the shadows better than the Canon. That always helps. I’m not great on the technical side, I know what I need to know, but lots I can’t be bothered learning, haha.

I kind of figured I was the weak link in low light situations. And as I learn a bit more each month, I discover I was! The Army taught me photography and it was all shoot, move and document. Artistry is nice and all that, but you need to do it quick and move. So when I went to a photo studio and started shooting weddings, I slowed down some. However, I still over shoot. So as I learn more of the tech side of things, I am trying to slow down and get better quality of photos instead of quantity. But it’s hard because like you said, I am similar, I haven’t bothered to learn some of the other things.

I think you can do both, shoot quantity and quality, after all it becomes second nature I think. I like to think I shoot quality, but I also do quantity, but I’ve got much faster at the first one. I can put the camera up and compose pretty quickly. I usually know what I want.

I know where there are Hasselblads for the picking up … I believe the Apollo astronauts left some on the Moon? I don’t think what I want has been invented yet … something about the size of a GoPro with interchangeable lenses and a wifi remote control.

The 28-300 is such a great focal length, I love it. I didn’t put bag, I have so many already and I really do have a bag to cover each situation now. I think you would need more than $15000 to get all those lenses though. Thanks for playing along.

Hi Leanne, unfortunately to fulfill my wish list I’d need considerably more than $15000 dollars as a medium format Hasselblad with a 60 megapixel digital back would set me back £30 – £40000 I believe, pounds not dollars you’ll notice. One can only dream.. 😀
Love this picture by the way!